Tigers not ruling out trade
Posted July 30, 2010 – 6:03 pm in: Uncategorized
Last Updated: July 24. 2010 1:00AM Lynn Henning / the Detroit News
Detroit — Dave Dombrowski’s perpetual poker game continues, his cards known only to himself.
Jim Leyland’s hand is at least on the table as the Tigers talk among themselves and to other clubs a week before the July 31 trade deadline.
“We could use some help, but if the help is only a tad better (than the existing roster), I wouldn’t give up young talent,” Leyland, the Tigers manager, said Friday before the game against the Blue Jays was rained out at Comerica Park.
“Would we like to add some thump in the infield, and in the bullpen?” Leyland asked. “Yeah. But I don’t want to add to the club if it makes you only a tad better and if it involves giving up a couple of young players.”
Leyland believes that only for a “difference-maker” would the Tigers consider investing young talent, which is a philosophy that obviously originates with Dombrowski, the Tigers president and general manager, with whom Leyland is talking daily.
“Like other teams, we’ve got guys (scouts) all over the country looking at players,” Leyland said.
“All you can ask for is a difference-maker. a power guy, I’d be willing to trade for. Some journeyman guy with experience? I wouldn’t do it.”
The “power guy” could be a pitcher, as well as a position player, in Leyland’s view. And if the power came in the person of a third baseman or shortstop, all the better.
“Realistically, will Scott Sizemore, Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth drive you to a world championship?” Leyland asked, speaking of three infielders who get their share of time at third base, shortstop, and second base. “Probably not — being realistic.”
The price is high
The Tigers would love to see one of the Blue Jays’ more important hitters, Jose Bautista, in a Tigers uniform as soon as possible. Bautista can play third base and the outfield, and his 26 home runs entering Friday led the big leagues.
But the Tigers are running into two realities as a potentially volatile week shapes up:
Teams with players for sale are asking for full retail. the markdowns might or might not come closer to next Saturday’s deadline. even at the 11th hour, the asking price for the kind of dynamic player or players Leyland ideally covets figures to be steep, and it almost certainly would dent the Tigers’ farm system.
Leyland defers to Dombrowski on those matters.
Happily so.
“I know this,” Leyland said. “Dave Dombrowski is as prepared as any GM you’ll ever work with, for, or against. He’s as thorough as anyone in the game.
“I’ve never caught him one time unprepared,” said Leyland, who often asks about a particular player, and listens as Dombrowski tells him the specific asking price a club has already forwarded to the Tigers, as well as full reports on other teams that are also in the hunt. “Never one time have I mentioned a player he didn’t know about in detail.
“There may be some (GMs) as prepared as he is. But nobody is more prepared than Dave.”
‘Fun time for a GM’
Leyland said his input in trades is minimal. Dombrowski may ask him about a player, but unless it’s someone Leyland has had experience seeing from the Tigers dugout — in other words, an American League player — he is careful not to endorse or to discourage. For that reason, he’s reluctant to talk deeply about anyone from the National League.
Leyland instead talks with managers, coaches and players who might know a pitcher, or a hitter, and gets their take on whether the player would mesh with Detroit’s needs.
The manager says he has no idea what his boss will do during the next week, apart from being thorough and considerate of the team’s position and long-term picture.
“It’s a fun time for a GM,” said Leyland, who also enjoys the July chatter. “I’m trying to win games. And he’s trying to see if he can come up with something that helps our team.”
lynn.henning@detnews.com
Tags: blue jays, comerica park, dave dombrowski, tad